Single Idea 23640

[catalogued under 18. Thought / E. Abstraction / 2. Abstracta by Selection]

Full Idea

I think it requires some ripeness of understanding to distinguish the qualities of a body from the body; perhaps this distinction is not made by brutes, or by infants.

Gist of Idea

Only mature minds can distinguish the qualities of a body

Source

Thomas Reid (Essays on Intellectual Powers 2: Senses [1785], 19)

Book Reference

Reid,Thomas: 'Inquiry and Essays', ed/tr. Beanblossom /K.Lehrer [Hackett 1983], p.192


A Reaction

I'm glad the brutes get a mention in his assessment of these questions. I take such thinking to arise from what can be labelled the faculty of abstraction, which presumably only appears in a mature brain. It is second-level thinking.